Contemporary meets ancientness always spark unusual spectaculars. The genre of metal, retroactively going far back in time has grace and beauty in the distorted, darkly inventive expression. Liontortoise is a four-piece metal band, known of their expressive music style and intricate guitar works. “v4” sees the masters of music bringing yet another fantastic piece.

The melodies has a flair of otherworldliness. As if drawing from another universe, or maybe from a different time, there’s a kind of medieval or pre-medieval roughness deep in the undertone. The guitars, on the other hand, stays in a Baroque/pre-Baroque approach. The melodies remain their own expressions all in extraordinary parallels. Each line has a different personality and tells a different story. Together, they weave into this epic storytelling that feels both rich in details and drastic in volume.

From there, you could hear how high they could fly and how much further they could take this form of music. The flow and patterns emerge organically. There’s a good chemistry and collective space that they go to when playing. Much like jazz music. They don’t stay in one place. At some point, someone in the group initiate an idea, a motif and the rest responses. There’s that natural spontaneity in Liontortoise’s music, which doesn’t always occur among metal bands. There also isn’t any lengthy, overly technical individual show off in their songs. Of course, the soaring guitar that lands with a melodic bang is always forefront attention-grabbing, but the deep, captivating roar in the lower riffs are something else.

The dark, luring undertone feels stirring and deep, giving all emotional chaos and resolution more in-depth and intense distortion. A mid-range embrace tears itself into pieces and regroups in painful transformation bears so much wrenching energy. Towards the end of “v4,” the flying melodies begin to swirl into an illusive, expansive mentality. Again, that’s how the counterparts idea woven into an emotive, expressive modernity.

The more you listen to Liontortoise, you’d be more convinced they are a four-piece electric orchestra. The drums in their music also don’t just serve as a time keeper, but an individual with emotions and stirs. There are couple of times where changes and shifts come from this very exact place. Double up, hits true and hard, adds something spice, makes it texturally appealing. The drums play a part in all. Together, Liontortoise brings a multi-layered sonic storytelling that can be savored through a fierce live setting that makes the crowd go mad while keenly listening to the art of how everything comes together.